Politics, News, Comments & Other Stuff….

RNC: Short of Isaac delivering a Katrina-like blow to the Gulf Coast, don’t expect any further changes to the RNC schedule. Tonight’s featured speakers are Santorum, Luce Vela Fortuno, Christie, and Ann Romney. For the full three-day schedule, click here.

2016/20: It’s worth watching how speakers this week jostle for the mantle of “next in line,” whether the opening is in 4 years or 8. Politico suggests that a field of Huckabee, Rand Paul, and one of Ryan, Rubio, or Christie would make for quite a battle of ideologies.

Michigan: Has any state had less consistent polling this year? Just when a run of polls showed Obama comfortably ahead, we get this one from Mitchell that has ’em tied at 47. Mitchell’s last poll had Obama by 5.

North Carolina: Two new polls confirm a tight race: High Point/SUSA shows a 44-43 tie, while CNN has Romney up 48-47.

Race: Ezra Klein (paraphrased): “OK, so maybe Romney isn’t racist, but he wants racists to vote for him. Because race is everything in this country.” It fascinates me to no end how liberals are fascinated to no end by race.

Senate

Hawaii: Linda Lingle’s new ad looks exactly like a John Hancock ad (from the series that featured older couples instant-messaging about retirement worries). Can an ad without spoken dialogue be effective?

Massachusetts: It’s been on the radio, but MA voters will now be treated to a TV version of “Republicans Hate Women, and I Wish I Were Claire McCaskill.” Scott Brown responded with a fairly mediocre web ad.

Missouri: A pro-life group wants delegates to abstain from voting for Romney at the RNC until Todd Akin gets NRSC money. Over/under on how many actually abstain is set at 0.

Ohio: I like this new Josh Mandel ad. He still looks like a kid, but the factory setting and shots of regular Joes work well. Since Crossroads is doing the “dirty work” for him, Mandel can run positive, post-partisan spots like this. (Aside: the ad emphasizes that Mandel is 34. Normally, this is done to highlight the candidate’s youth, but in this case it feels more like “Trust me: I’m not 19!”)